HOLDING ON Part 6

She flipped through the final pages of the research paper, the other hand hovering along the empty cup of her take-away latte. She checked on the time briefly and smiled, already knowing was coming in a few minutes' time.

It was an hour to midnight and by routine, it was already time to pack her stuff.

Shortly after, the expected call came in. The smile she had on earlier widened when she noticed her phone had started vibrating.

"Hey, Jae. You're downstairs already? Alright. I'm almost- Okay, okay. I'm coming. I'm coming. What? No! I'm already walking-"

Checking that nothing was left behind on the desk, she quickly made her way to the main entrance of the library where JaeJoong was already waiting to pick her up. She spotted him leaning against his car parked at the side of the road.

"You could get a ticket for this," she spoke once she was close enough, and pointed to his car. "Parking in front of the main entrance is not allowed."

He only grinned in response. "My school, my rules... Hi, baby," he pulled her into his arms and hugged her briefly. There weren't anyone around, except for a guy with huge headphones waiting for the midnight bus a few distance away.

She returned his hug and allowed him to place a little peck on her nape. "Come on, let's go."

Throughout the car ride home, he kept their fingers interlaced. It has become another one of his habits, and she wasn't sure if she was entirely comfortable with him driving with one hand. More often than not, she tried to discreetly pull her hand away from his firm grip. But he was sharp and would have none of it.

"Stop that," he would argue during the times that she succeeded to pull away. "Give me back your hand."

"Nope," she would tell him. "Eyes on the road, please."

"Yeonnie, I need my lifeline. Let me hold your hand."

The way he spoke those words were so serious, as if his life really depended on it. HyeoYeon gave him a strange look but did not submit to his order.

"Yeonnie, baby. I know you're concerned, but I've been driving for more than ten years. I've done worst stunts than driving with one hand. Hold my hand, please." He spread his fingers and waited for hers to return to their rightful place.

HyeoYeon pouted. She slowly interlaced their fingers back together.

He let out a content sigh. "Much better..."

"I really don't get it with men needing to hold hands while driving," HyeoYeon began to nag. "I mean, I know men are better drivers. But-"

"We value the alone moment we have with our significant other," JaeJoong cut in. "So much that you can't even imagine."

HyeonYeon looked at him incredulously. But still, JaeJoong's reply caused HyeoYeon to chuckle. "No matter what, your comebacks are always so cheesy. I really can't imagine living the rest of my life with all these cheese."

"Yes, you can," JaeJoong demanded, eyes on the road. "You have to."

They both laughed at more of JaeJoong's antiques since that until they arrived at HyeoYeon's home fifteen minutes later.

HyeonYeon was about to unbuckle her seatbelt when JaeJoong stopped her. She stared at him questioningly.

He smiled. "Let me kiss you goodnight?"

She was hesitant at first. But when he said please, she melted. No one was out at this hour, and both of them were inside JaeJoong's Audi. She nodded briefly. He unbuckled the seatbelt for her and pulled her closer until their lips met. The touch was so soft, making HyeoYeon sigh into the kiss.

"I love you, baby," he whispered once he pulled away. His eyes bore into hers as if expressing the unspoken words. "You're the only one for me. Always remember that."

She smiled and reached out to caress his cheek. "I love you too. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

He nodded before leaning in to kiss her again.

***

It was half-way through the lecture and HyeoYeon was starting to feel sleepy. It was revision week for the mid-terms, and the lecturer weren't letting on any valuable inputs on the exams. He was only summarising points from each and every chapters. Not at all interesting.

She picked up her phone from the desk and saw that she had ten unread Whatsapp messages from two conversations. She opened the second conversation first. It was from her sister.

'Are you free tonight? // I got two free vouchers to the spa. // I know it's not really your thing but it's free and we should try this together at least once.'

HyeoYeon laughed. Spa? No way...

She replied, 'No, thanks. // Already got a date with your future brother-in-law. :P' 

Then she went on to the other conversation. It was from JaeJoong, of course.

'Fancy having lunch with me today, baby? // I'll come pick you up. // You don't have classes after lunch, right? // I was thinking, // we could go and check out those other things for the wedding. // Let me know, okay. // I'